“Ms. Rees’s problem is money. She has it. (She and her husband, her partner in a venture capital firm that is now being dismantled, live in Presidio Terrace, a gated enclave with uniformed guards.) But she has, as yet, refused to spend it. Though she stands to collect as much as $900,000 in public financing by agreeing to campaign-spending caps, Ms. Rees herself has not yet contributed a single dollar. And under the campaign-spending caps, none of her well-heeled contributors can give more than $500.”

I don’t know, this campaign stands out as the biggest ego trip out of all the dozen or so “serious” candidates.

I say that for two reasons.

1. We’re paying for it. Hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of our money goes to her campaign, which then goes into people carrying her name all over town. I think Joanna likes having her name all over town whether or not she has a chance of winning this race. Of course other candidates are getting a piece of the millions being given out this cycle as well, but Joanna is the standout. Did she have to fill out a form or something to claim that she needs the money? (Isn’t that what campaign financing should be all about? I mean, if you commit a crime, the govt. will provide you with a public defender for free, if necessary, but you at least have to claim that you need the help. What the govt. doesn’t do is say, “Oh, you’re a millionaire, but no matter, go out there and hire any lawyer in the world to defend you and then we’ll pick up the bill.”) Based upon what I’ve seen, without public financing she wouldn’t be running. But prove me wrong, Joanna, by giving back our money.

2. Our money isn’t being spent effectively - now that’s the other thing. Those Rees’es Pieces, those kids who are all over the place. What do they make, minimum wage? Sure seems that way. Let’s take a look, below.

“All right, strike a pose to ensure you’re ignored for the entire AM drive, log into FaceBook (or I guess these days it’s Google Plus) and ACTION.”

“OK, that’s a rap, go see payroll.”

“Now, I want you to distribute these fliers in the Western A. But don’t just leave one leaflet as a piece of garbage on the ground – no no, leave five at a time, that way you’ll quintuple your productivity. Hurray!”

And be sure to show up to the mayoral forum two hours early, you know, to get the word out:

That’s right: Meg had a more effective campaign because she was spending her own money.

Plus, Meg had a chance of winning.

So let’s look forward to hearing from more college kids getting paid (all, most, some – how much per hour, I don’t know) to hold up signs (and not just one, get an extra long stick and then staple an extra four JOANNA! signs down the shaft) to stand outside of forums and think of ways to amuse themselves.

Sometimes, you run for office not to win but just to “get your name out there.” Well, Mission Accomplished, perhaps over budget (mostly our budget) but ahead of schedule. I got it – high functioning, go-getter alpha female with very good genes, but what else do you have? You gotta give the people something. What, you’re “not an insider?” Well, you’re going to need to do more than that, is all I’m saying.

Where JR’s path will lead to down the road in 2012 and beyond, I know not.

His campaign for Governor started off with him destroying Gavin Newsom’s expensive venture By Simply Doing Nothing. Jerry Brown’s campaign for Governor continued with him Saving His Pennies For October.

This approach seems to be working well, huh? We’ll find out soon enough.

*Here’s the SFYD and their local endorsements, if you’d care to take a look. And you’re young, right? Well, then you could join and get in on the fun…

“Please join SFYD in supporting Jerry Brown for Governor on Wednesday, October 6th. This is the ONLY young professionals event for Jerry in San Francisco from now through November 2nd. Attendees will enjoy drink specials, a hosted VIP lounge, light h’ors d’oevres, and the always entertaining company of Attorney General Jerry Brown. Special musical performance by Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. Delicious wine provided by Navarro Vineyards.

Gloria says that there will be no statement from Nicky today because it was emotionally-challenging for her to speak out yesterday.

And off we go:

Statement from Gloria:

An April 22, 2003 letter from the Social Security Administrationshows that the SSN provided by Nicky was problematic. The letter tells recipients to ask the employee for the employee’s SSN, but Meg didn’t do that. Meg’s husband partially filled out the SSA form and then handed it to Nicky with a note saying, “Nicky, please check this.” The Whitmans wanted an undocumented worker because undocumented workers are easier to manage.

Meg Whitman lied to the press and the public when she said that, “We never received that letter and notification.”

Meg is exposed as a liar an a hypocrite. She should apologize to Nicky the press and the public.

Nicky is a hero. She is the Rosa Parks of the movement to gain respect for Latinos and all those who work so hard in households today.

(Frankly, I don’t see how Meg can win her race after seeing this. Say hello to Governor Jerry Brown, the Once and Future King.Et iterum venturus est cum gloria. You know, Meg would have been better off saying that she would donate $150,000,000 to the state treasury early nect year rather than just spending all that dough on consultants and ad buys. IMO)

Anyway, Meg showed up about 15 minutes late and began by saying how former housekeeper Nicky Diaz Santillan was an “extended member of our family.” Then she asked about Jerry Brown:

“What does he think I should have done instead?”

Then it was off to questions and answers, below.

1. Nicky came to work for us for 15 hours per week. Sometimes she worked ten, sometimes eight. Nicky never asked for mileage reimbursement for running errands around Menlo Park.

2. We didn’t receive a letter from the Social Securtiy Administration. We never saw any such letter.

3. We didn’t want to turn Nicky in to law enforcement due to our ten-year relationship with her.

4. I comported with the law. The law doesn’t require employers to turn employees in. I fired her as soon as I found out she was illegal. Every employer needs to make his or her own decision about how to handle such a situation.

5. It’s very possible that Nicky intercepted any possible letter that came from the Social Securtiy Administration. The Nicky I knew was not the Nicky I saw at Gloria Allred’s presser.

6. These days we have one housekeeper, plus a landscaping and pool service.

7. We play by the rules. We were explicit with the people at the employment. We told the agency that we wanted legal employees only.

8. I never asked Nicky directly about her immigration status. We got a copy of the I-9 from and Social Security card from the agency.

9. Nicky signed her I-9 form under penalty of perjury. Nicky lied.

10. I have not contaced the SSA to ask for any letter that they might have sent out.

11. Nicky was my employee directly. We left a check for her on the counter every Friday.

12. I haven’t talked with Nicky since she left the house on the Saturday afternoon when she confessed to us.

13. I was heartbroken. I had to tell Nicky that we couldn’t continue to employ her.

14. This is classic smear politics. This is how career politicians like Jerry Brown operate. This is Brown-motivated.

15. Until we can be assured that we can get our arms around securing our borders, I don’t think we should alter our immigration laws. A first step would be a temporary guest worker program.

16. I didn’t want to discuss Nicky in the press. I didn’t want to make an example of her. I feel badly for Nicky for her involvement with Gloria Allred.

17. If I was going to let Nicky go for political expediency, I would have done it in February 2009 when I announced my run for Governor, not in June 2009.

18. It’s absolutely false when people say I knew about Nicky’s illegal status before he confession. I didn’t.

19. Town and Country Resources of Menlo Park was the employment agency involved.

20. We don’t owe Nicky any money. We paid her less when she worked less than 15 hours a week. We even paid her during Christmas vacation.

21. My lawyer said that there was nothing that we could do for her after we found out about her status.

22. I didn’t talk about Nicky because I didn’t want to make an example of here. I don’t know who is paying Gloria Allred.

23. This issue has nothing to do with my character.

24. I want this state to get back on track. There are 2.3 million Californians without jobs. This is a distraction from what Californians ought to be talking about.

25. I feel badly about the situation. But the law is the law. I don’t know what ICE will do.

26. It’s absolutely false the statement Nicky made about me saying to her, “I don’t know you and you don’t know me.”

27. I would absolutely take a polygraph test about whether I knew about her immigration status. I was stunned when Nicky told us.

28. If it comes to that I will absolutely take a polygraph test.

29. We were misled. Our country needs an E-Verify system in place.

30. We were given copies of a CA-issued driver license, an SSN card and an I-9. We relied on all these documents.

31. My campaign is doing very well with Latinos. I will work very hard to earn the vote of Latinos.

32. This is totally predictable. Nicky is being used. This incident could backfire on the Jerry Brown campaign.

33. I had a very cordial relationship with Nicky.

34. It’s not right what Nicky did.

35. It’s very hard to know if Nicky should be deported. Nicky can’t see what is about to happen here. She is being manipulated.

36. She did normal kind of housekeeping duties. She drove one of the boys to school sometimes. She was not responsible for the children.

37. I don’t know if Nicky had a legitimate driver license. I’ve heard that it was a real driver license.

38. We comported with the law. I’m new to politics. I’m just getting used to smear politics.

39. Nicky would get the mail from the mailbox and then put it on the kitchen island.

40. I didn’t know that Nicky was illegal until June 2009.

41. I think I behaved correctly under the circumstances. I wouldn’t behave differently if I had to do it all over again.

42. We only have one employee now. We hired her through the same agency. She is legal. My mailbox is locked know. I get my own mail now.

43. It’s important to get back to the issues Californians care about. The budget is 100 days overdue. We are about to go to IOUs to pay vendors to the state of California. I need to turn my attention back to my campaign.

44. I believe that this is linked to the Brown campaign, 100%

45. I can’t criticise the agency. They had the proper documents.

46. We had a very good relationship with Nicky. Her boys played soccer in our backyard and played with our mini-schnauzer.

47. I don’t think we abused or took advantage of Nicky. We paid her $23 an hour. If she had a parent-teacher conference or some kind of appointment, we let her go early.

I have to run. Thank you for coming. Let’s move on to solve the problems facing California.

OMG, Bill Clinton is coming back to town! That’s my conclusion after reading a fresh release from the Jerry Brown people. Check it out, below.

Let’s hope Bill can show up on time this go-around. Remember the last time BC came to SF for a big public appearance? Our local pols were shocked by Bill’s tardiness back in aught-six.

Gavin Newsom points to his watch and sticks out his tongue at a rally in Civic Center to show Phil Ting and Jake McGoldrick just how goddamn late Bill Clinton is:

Click to expand a little bit

Oh, and since I’ve already spun up the archive platters, here’s a “leggy blonde” (a”friend” of one of the pols) who was also a little disappointed that night. She left the scene before getting the chance to meet with one of the Desperate Housewives and/or Bill Clinton. Wouldn’t have noticed her but for all her yelling and carrying on:

Anyway, all the deets, as much as we’re allowed to know so far:

President Bill Clinton to Join Attorney General Jerry Brown and Mayor Gavin Newsom in Series of Events in Northern and Southern California

SAN FRANCISCO – The Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom campaigns announced today that President Bill Clinton will join them in a series of events, in Northern and Southern California, on October 15 and 17, in support of their candidacies.

“I am very pleased to have the endorsement of President Clinton, and I look forward to campaigning with him and with Gavin Newsom,” said Jerry Brown. “President Clinton accomplished a lot for California, and we have a ticket that will accomplish a lot for California’s future.”

“Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a close working relationship with President Clinton and I’m honored to have his continued support in my campaign for Lieutenant Governor,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “I’m looking forward to campaigning alongside the President next month along with Attorney General Brown. Californians will never forget his record of accomplishments and his commitment to effectively confront our most pressing issues.”

Details for the events are still in development and will be released accordingly.